Genealogy

Liberty Enlightening the World

liberty-resized

On a grey, cold day in October, I boarded a ferry outside the gates of Castle Garden, at the tip of Manhattan.  Looking out the ferry window, my parents and I could see a misty Statue of Liberty. From this vantage, the scene would have looked similar to one more than 100 years ago when three of my four grandparents[1]  arrived in the United States via Ellis Island.

The St. Paul, the Pennsylvania and the Kroonland carried my ancestors through the Narrows and within sight of the famous statue. After the ships passed quarantine inspection, they docked at the Hudson River piers and citizens and most 1st and 2nd class passengers disembarked. Immigrant steerage passengers passed through customs and then boarded ferries, taking them to Ellis Island for medical and legal inspection. They entered the main floor past stacks of luggage, and climbed stairs to the Inspection Room [2].

ellis-island-registry-room

Across this floor and through these lines walked

  • my maternal great-grandparents, my great-grandmother four months pregnant with her first child, my grandfather.
  • my paternal great-grandmother, shepherding four children under the age of 10, including my five-year old grandfather.
  • my maternal grandmother, three months old and bundled in the arms of her mother, along with her father and older half-sisters.

My maternal great-grandparents passed through inspection, and with $10 and a dream, headed into the cacophony of Suffolk Street and a tenement on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

My paternal great-grandmother and her children already had train tickets to their final destination of St. Louis, and after passing inspection would have taken a ferry to the railroad, probably out of New Jersey.

My infant grandmother, her parents and half-sisters also had train tickets to their final destination, however they were detained for several hours over concern that the group might be L.P.C., or Likely Public Charge. They ate dinner (lunch) in the detention cafeteria before it was determined that the group had not $10 but actually $45 dollars and the capacity to continue the journey by train to St. Louis.

parents-in-registry-room

My parents in the Ellis Island Registry Room.

The visit to Ellis Island brought me and my parents back to the beginning of our immediate family’s life in the United States. Our Ellis Island immigrants comprised just 12 of the more than 12 million immigrants who passed through Ellis Island during its years of operation (1892-1954).

What is your immigrant story?

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Including my maternal grandfather in utero.
  2. Detroit Publishing Co., Copyright Claimant, and Publisher Detroit Publishing Co. Inspection room, Ellis Island, New York. [between 1910 and 1920] Image. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/det1994018383/PP/. (Accessed November 03, 2016.)

Tell Me A Story

Oral history is arguably the backbone of genealogy. “Every story has a kernel of truth,” I hear myself telling clients, “let’s figure out where the story started.”

This Thanksgiving, StoryCorps is promoting The Great Thanksgiving Listen, an effort to encourage interviews of people over the age of 65. While it’s geared towards teachers and high school students, StoryCorps developed an app that just about anyone can use.

With so many people joining family and close friends in the coming weeks, take time to ask someone to tell you a story. Some fantastic interview tips can be found here, and a more comprehensive resource page is here.

Question prompts I use include:
•    Find a group photo or a childhood photo with the person you are interviewing. As him or her about who else is in the photo, where it was taken, if it was a special holiday or celebration.
•    Building on that theme, ask your interviewee about their favorite holiday, special foods their parents or grandparents made. Ask about old traditions.
•    When was the first time they flew in an airplane? What was the make and model of their first car? Did they serve in the military? What was their first job?
•    Where did they go to school? Did they have a favorite teacher or subject to study?
•    Did they grow up in the city, or on a farm? Who else lived with them when they were children? Were other family members living nearby?

It might take more than one try. You might need to take a break, or do it a different time of day. Offer to also let the person interview you. Most importantly, sit back, and listen.